


A Small Surge of Hope

by Ginger Jam (skylite), skylite



Category: Marvel 616, Superior Spider-Man, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-02 09:44:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylite/pseuds/Ginger%20Jam, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylite/pseuds/skylite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When aliens invade New York for Thanos during the Avengers' absence, several regular New Yorkers end up exposed to something like the Terragen Mists and develop superpowers.</p><p>I didn't like the way one of those stories ended, so I fixed it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Small Surge of Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Happens during the events of the Thanos invasion, specifically during the events of Superior Spider-Man team up 3 and 4. But happens before the events of Battle of the Atom.
> 
> Sylvia was a grad student studying in the cloisters when the mists hit her and changed her into living lightning. The only reason she'd been caught there was that she preferred the solitude of her studies to the hubbub of the 21st century and all its intrusive technology. Meeting the Superior Spider-Man, he suggested she take a codename to give herself a chance to cope with the change in herself. He meant to groom her as a protege, a new hero. But her mind, shaken by the transition to her new form, went a different way. After getting stuck in NYC's electric grid, she decided to depower the city and return it to the glory of the dark ages. Spider-Man stopped her by pulling her onto his mindscape and showing her the unpleasant side of what it'd mean to go back to the dark ages. She was trying to protest when they both became aware of the invading ship. Spider-Man let her go, only to see her make him proud as she restored power to NY and then took out the invading ship herself.
> 
> Thanks to @Frito_KAL for the beta read.
> 
> ~Signifies Telepathic Communication~

  
It was just a little past dark when Jono set the lock and forcefield on his borrowed car and got the door for his companion of the evening. It wasn't a date, nothing like that, just two people getting away from the noise of their lives for a quick night. She expected no romance from him, nor he from her. It was a relief, really. Their lives were chock-full of drama morning to night most days, so a plain, ordinary day was almost unheard of for them both.

"Chamber, it was really nice of you to bring me down to Manhattan to see the Yoko Kanno concert," Nori said quietly, fingers folded in front of her as she tried not to fidget with her image inducer. The blue hair was not part of the illusion, but in Midtown Manhattan, blue hair was hardly out of place.

  
~Think nothing of it. And it's Jono, all right?~ replied Jono, gently reaching a hand to take hers away from the switch of the image inducer hiding her dampening gauntlets. ~I'm quite the fan meself, and I thought a break away from all the hullabaloo at the school would be a nice change of pace.~ 

The crowd was developing that buzz, that enthusiastic sound that would tell anyone who wasn't a mutant telepath that it was almost showtime. But another buzz that could only be picked up telepathically caused Jono to pause in the lobby, just after their tickets were ripped. He got a dirty look from a pair of pink-haired teenage girls. Jono winced for lack of ability to smile wryly, and sent, ~And as much as it would've been, we're gonna have to miss it, Nori. There's something going on outside. They're evacuating people. Radio City will be evacuated before much longer,~ he added, to take some of the sting out.

"What is it?" Nori asked, curiosity and concern warring with annoyance and frustration over having to miss the show. "Sentinels?"

~Nah.~ Jono hit his own image inducer, revealing himself as an X-Man. It was almost a relief for Nori to follow suit, by her expression. Once their X-Men colors were showing, the pair immediately got a wide berth from would-be concertgoers. ~Alien invasion.~

"Aliens? Seriously? It boggles my mind that you can be so calm about that," Surge confessed, stepping out onto the street just in time to see the city drop block by block into darkness. "Oh, as if that weren't bad enough -- a blackout too?"

~Never a dull moment, luv,~ Chamber sent philosophically, and paused a moment to get his telepathic bearings. 

~Lesseenow... Avengers offworld, wouldn't you know it. Mighty Avengers? Who the bloody hell are the Mighty Avengers? Well, they're fighting the first wave, it looks li--~

ZZZZZAPT! 

"I get it, Chamber," Surge shouted over the actinic sizzle of her own powers as electricity arced from her gauntlets to shock some of the alien footsoldiers marching up Avenue of the Americas. "Wanna jump in anytime?"

~Sure, only I am hearing the best way to do it is to be efficient about it.~ Jono turned to step beside Surge and sent her the mental image of what he expected her to do. 

"Will it kill them?" Surge asked warily as the mental image of soldiers dropping like flies entered her head.

~Nah. Just take out their grav compensators. They won't be able to lift their heads, much less stand up on their own two feet, tentacles, flippers -- whatevs.~ Chamber stood with his back to his fellow X-Man. She took the cue and moved into position behind him. 

Surge took on attackers from the left, sending high voltage arcing from suit to suit; Chamber met them from the right, doing the same with fiery blasts of telekinetic energy. 

"Like dominoes," Surge said, laughter beginning to bubble out from under her scowl of concentration. "And for once, maybe people in this city will be glad we were here." 

~Whoa, don't dream big or anything,~ Chamber joked. ~Seriously, though, Surge, more important fish to fry. Roosevelt Hospital's dark. Generator doesn't seem to have kicked in.~

"I know what I've gotta do." Surge grinned sideways at Chamber. "Good thing we carry independently powered Shi'Ar tech, huh?" 

~Never leave home without it,~ quipped Chamber. ~I'll help keep this area clear. I'll stay in touch.~ 

"Cool." Surge lit up her gauntlets and hopped the electric wires criscrossing the city to follow the GPS to the hospital in danger. _Nice to actually be doing something supportive and helpful, not just running away from haters, or defending people from those who hate us._ Moving at the speed of electricity she was at Roosevelt Hospital almost before she completed the thought. "I'm Surge, one of the X-Men, here to help."

To her delighted surprise, despite having mentally braced herself, not a single voice raised in racist derision. Not one voice cried out in dismay as Surge waded through the crowd and followed where the current belonged to the generator room. "Please stand back, for your own safety."  
Nobody argued, tried to stop her or got in her way, assuming the worst. Everybody simply took her at her word, and complied. The paramedics and doctors stayed near their patients. Some looked worried and protective. But she could see the glimmer of hope on their faces as well. That she had electrical powers and had Surge as a codename had gotten through.

  
Nori bent and found the wires beneath the concrete, and did as her namesake implied. The hospital was huge, so it took a lot of her effort. "Nnnnnngh!" There were sizzles and pops as older circuitry on the block couldn't handle that much power. But there was a buzz, a flicker, and then the lights began coming back on. 

Cheers went up as the lights flashed, held, and above that, doctors shouted to get their stat patients back inside so life support could be done automatically again.

~Jono, gonna be stuck here a little bit,~ Surge sent. ~Can't move until I'm sure that they've got their own backup generator going.~ With that, she let the maintenance staff lead her down to the basement where the power for the hospital originated. ~But it's good. Nobody's making a fuss. It's ...nice.~

~Good work,~ Chamber sent back. ~Call when you need me.~ 

Chamber's night took him on foot and psi-blast all over the city. Part of his evening was spent getting people out of cars crumpled by accidents caused when the power had failed. Part was spent sending word to the other X-Men upstate and around New York who might have a moment to pitch in. The younger X-Men eagerly offered their assistance, and advised him they'd arrive as fast as they could. Yet another few moments was spent plumbing the minds of the fallen invaders, learning their language, the way Charles Xavier had taught them all various other languages.

~Oh bloody hell.~ 

Despite the aliens' refusal to cooperate, he'd not only gotten enough of their language to understand what they were thinking -- none of which was worth considering really, now that they were defeated-- and to get a clear picture of their thoughts.  
~They're not done!~ Jono sent. ~They were only the first wave. Second wave coming.~ He watched the exhaustion in New Yorkers' faces change slowly to horror, then more quickly, move to determination. He watched in admiration as the police, the firefighters, the paramedics, and the regular citizens all pitched in to help each other out. Cars that were still drivable were organized, and the message passed along on cellphones whose towers were still operating on backup. ~Surge? Can you put your hands down yet?~

  
~Yes, they've got backup power going.~ Surge sounded tired, but she sounded less taut at the nerves than she'd sounded before Jono had suggested the concert. He found himself smiling at that. _The hospital trip must have gone well._ ~What do you need?~

~I'm headed toward the Raft, or whatever they're calling it now,~ Chamber sent, using a blast of telekinesis to launch himself skyward and hail a police helicopter. ~They're coming in that way and last I picked up, all the heroes were uptown. Nobody to head them off but us with the city blacked out and no communications.~

~Understood. I'm on the way. Surge out.~ 

Chamber grabbed the landing feet of the NYPD chopper and swung himself up into its cockpit, quickly explaining what he'd learned from the aliens. All he got in response was a nod from the police officer who'd slung open the door, and orders for the pilot to take them south. There was no pushback, no "why should we believe you, mutie?" no argument costing precious time they could not afford. The chopper banked and then made a bee-line for the island that once housed the Raft.  
A blue crackle of electricity zipped below Jono and quickly outpaced the chopper, Surge racing ahead at speed. She came out of the grid at Battery Park, seeing the alien warship decloak, visible from the lights of New Jersey across the river. "Oh, man," she murmured. ~Starsmore, you seeing this?~

A string of profanity Nori didn't understand despite it being in English gave her the answer she needed. ~Two of us are not gonna be enough for this, Chamber. Did you call for backup?~

~'Course I did,~ the telepath answered, diving from the helicopter and using his power to soften his own landing, which left him staggering to a stop beside his teammate. ~They should be here any second now.~ _That's if the Blackbird was in the hangar at least,_ but he didn't share that thought with Surge. ~Meantime, we do what we can. Like always.~

Surge nodded, and concentrated, her gauntlets sparking and crackling to life again. Behind her, cheers went up, brought thinly to her ears by the wind off the river. She glanced over her shoulder and was relieved to see that the power had come back on. Not in one grid at a time, but the entire city, as if someone had just flipped a switch for the entire island. _Good._ That meant the police, emergency services, would at least be able to get help to those who needed it without the impediments of a blacked out city.

"Ready?" Surge asked, reaching for Chamber's hand. 

No, not really, but somebody's got to be,~ Chamber answered, lacing his fingers through the fingers of her gauntlet.

Surge was just about to launch them both toward the invaders' giant craft, when a bright yellow arc of electricity lanced past her from behind. Startled, she stumbled backward. Chamber held on and caught her, as the pair watched multiple bolts of electricity arc from the newly re-powered island of Manhattan to coalesce into the blinding yellow-white form of a woman made of electricity, high in the night sky.

The lumbering ship turned its guns on the electrical apparition, but the shots went clear through her.  
"Who's she?" Surge asked, watching the ship simultaneously fried and torn apart by the massive hands of the golden lightning woman. 

~Hell if I know,~ Chamber answered. He extended his telepathy to check if she was someone familiar in a new appearance. 

~ _Fulmina. Sylvia. Fulmina. Sylvia. Tyrant? No. Hero. He said I could be a hero. And I will be. If it kills me!~_

Fulmina, Jono recalled, once picking up the name in the lightning woman's thoughts, meant lightning. Latin for it, in fact, he got from the distorted memories and thoughts she was giving off. 

~ _Sorry, so sorry. I can fix this. Make it better. I have to._ ~ 

~Sylvia? I'm Chamber. Can you hear me?~

~ _Yes?_ ~

~We're X-Men. Do you need any help?~

~ _No, I've got it, thank you._ ~

And she did. Jono hadn't quite broken contact when the display of fireworks overhead reached a climax. The electric woman who identified herself as Fulmina -- or was it Sylvia? -- reached out with two giant hands of pure electricity and tore the ship apart. There was a deafening electric buzz, punctuated by the very human sound of a female voice screaming in sudden agony. 

Then it was Surge's turn to catch Jono, who reeled back from the psychic feedback. ~Quick, Surge, feed her some power, or we're going to lose her!~

Surge tugged a hand to free it from him, but Chamber held on. ~Need to keep us connected so I can be sure we haven't lost her.~

Surge nodded, and lifted her free hand toward the last place she'd seen the woman before the scream. A crowd was gathering behind them, murmuring nervously. They'd heard it too. But blue arcs raced for the sky from Surge's fingertips and found tiny glimmers of fading electricity. 

~We're here to help,~ Jono sent, gently. 

~ _N-n-no,_ ~ replied the female voice, broken like a radio not catching a solid signal. 

~It's okay~, Chamber sent.

~ _No, re--rea--really, I don't...w-w-want to st-a-ay._ ~ 

Chamber let go of Surge's hand. ~You just saved New York bloody City, girl. You're a hero and they'll want to thank you.

Besides. Everyone has something to live for.~

~ _I saved it be...because...I'd almost de-de-stroy-y-y-y-ed it._ ~

~Fine. Then you can live to make amends.~

~...~

Fulmina, or Sylvia, whatever she called herself, did not send again as much as wordlessly give her assent. 

She coalesced into a much smaller, weaker version of the form she'd displayed above the city, following Surge's current back to the shore. She wavered above the pair of mutants for a moment, then dropped to the ground at their feet, flickering feebly. 

"Come on," Surge said, extending a hand to her. "I got you." Their fingers touched and the woman with the lightning body brightened a little, literally. 

~I got you too,~ Chamber sent. 

The woman nodded to the both of them, and flickered out.

"It's okay!' Surge said to Chamber's alarmed expression. "She's not gone. I've got her stored in my gauntlets. She's just recharging." 

Chamber nodded wordlessly, as he turned back to the city and sent the message that the invasion had been stopped to the heroes already on Manhattan and the X-Men he'd called for backup. He instead requested a containment suit, and that the school have hot meals and hot baths waiting for Surge and himself.

***

Sylvia Prell woke with a scream on -- well, lips would require a body. But it was the last thing she remem--no, that wasn't quite right either. She remembered an Englishman. Tall, thin, with wry, dark humor in his voice, talking to her and telling her things would be all right.

She attempted to stretch and take stock of her environment, but realized she was contained. Not just in her new form after the strange mist had knocked her unconscious and destroyed her physical body. She was contained in a cell. 

"How -- what?" she cried, becoming alarmed. "Chamber? Surge?" They had said "I got you". That meant they would still be near her, right? To help?

"Here." Two holographic images of the last people she spoke to popped up, hovering in thin air before her. "How you doing?" asked the one she remembered in her head. The Englishman. Chamber.

Sylvia tried to collect her wits, and come back down from a panic she remembered already having gone through. She remembered someone had tried to help her then and she'd let the new power go to her head. She remembered having to correct her mistake. 

"The city -- is the city okay?" 

"Chamber says good work, you saved it." Surge was the one speaking. "Sorry, we're calling remote. Telepathy over that distance doesn't carry well. Well, not when SHIELD has psi-dampeners on."

"SHIELD--?" Sylvia squeaked, setting the lights around her and the holograms to flickering. 

"Yeah," Surge replied, with an apologetic shrug. "You don't have a physical body, and no one's reported you missing, but --"  
"--with my set of powers, too dangerous to be just left free, right?" Sylvia sighed with resignation in her voice.

Surge nodded. "Once they've determined whether you can restore your own physical form, or whether you'll need a suit or something like my gauntlets..."

"...they'll try me and put me in prison," Sylvia murmured, flickering, an expression of shame on her face. "I blacked out the city."  
"I think restoring power and saving the city from an alien armada will get you leniency," Surge responded after a moment in which she was clearly listening to Chamber. "That and some testimony from a hero."

"Wh-what?"

"Chamber--" Surge glanced at him, and he gave a modest shrug, "--went back to the city to try and find out who you were. Only a handful of people even knew the name 'Fulmina'." 

Sylvia winced. "Luke Cage. Spectrum." And after a pause, she added, "Spider-Man."

"Yeah, that last one." Surge grinned and let Jono use the keyboard instead.

Jono's typing wasn't perfect, but Sylvia could read it well enough. He explained that Cage knew the name only and that Spider-Man had been talking to her during the blackout. Cage had also been the one to contact Spectrum, in hopes of helping the newly powered Fulmina out of the power grid -- which had become a chase once Fulmina's power began expanding. Which left Spider-Man as the one with the most knowledge, since he'd told Cage he'd been attempting to recruit a new ally.

"That being the case,"Surge explained, I think SHIELD will go easy on you.

"And an Avenger being willing to vouch for you won't hurt."

"He'll help?" Sylvia asked hopefully.

"He said he would," Surge replied. "Soon as you feel up to it, and finish your therapy. Spider-Man also said that you seemed, on reflection, to be depressed." 

"Good guess," Sylvia muttered. "We were inside his head, so I guess he would know."

Surge and Chamber exchanged a sympathetic expression. "Can't help what your brain chemistry does. We'll get you help for that, and if possible, for your body to return to normal too."

The holograms went out, leaving Sylvia Pless more hopeful about technology than she'd felt in a long time.


End file.
